[When importing files from SD card to a folder on a portable hard drive, LR says C: drive is low in space and stops: reworded for clarity]

[iainw131194]

This problems started when I updated to the version before the current one that I am using (ver 7.0.1) and still continues to happen. I am and continues with the current version and continues with the current version. I am not keen to update to the latest version until this problem is resolved.

I have also heard of other people having the same issue.

Many thanks in advance of any response.

[kentdesign]

Please explain your question a bit more in depth.

[iainw131194]

When I try to import files from my SD card to a folder in a portable hard drive I receive a message that says my C: drive is low in space and stops the program.. I then have to cut and past the Light room preset folder into my D drive to then allow the Lightroom program to work. I do not understand what the files are being uploaded into my C: drive and filling it u so quickly.

Hope this helps clarify the problem.

Thanks

[JP Hess]

Even though you are importing your images to the portable external hard drive, the catalog is on your C drive, And that is where the previews are being created as well as the cache. How much free disk space do you have on that drive? Ideally, you should always try to maintain at least 20% free space.

[kentdesign]

Jim Hess's answer makes sense. And why are you moving the preset folder to the other drive?

In LR preferences you can select whether to keep the Presets folder with that catalog if you have particular presets you only want to use with that one catalog, or they can be with the application itself, in which case the presets would be applied whenever LR is working.

[dj_paige]

Is it possible that the Import settings have changed somehow, and are now importing to the C: drive? You need to check to confirm this is not happening, you can't just say you are importing to the external drive without checking to confirm.

[iainw131194]

Many thanks to you both for your quick feedback and suggestions.

However, I have to point out that all I was trying to do was import from my SD card to a folder in a portable hard drive, which is how I understood was the one way to transfer the photographs into Lightroom. So as far as I was aware I was not changing any presets - but open to being advised otherwise.

I understand that it is important to keep sufficient space on the harddrive but it would appear that when I was importing the files to the folder on the portable HDD the Lightroom previews folder was filling up the C drive and reached 10GB before the message came up saying low disk space. As I only recently have had this problem following one of the LR updates I never had to keep clearing out the review folder. I was uploading from a couple of 64 GB cards but only importing a few of the files no where near the full card.

The catalog setting are set to auto discard 1.1 previews after 30 days but I don't know if this is correct or if it is doing this given how the folder fills up so quickly.

I am therefore still at a loss as to what to check or do to stop this happening.

Any additional advice would e very welcome.

Thanks for all your help so far.

[dj_paige]

iainw131194  wrote

Many thanks to you both for your quick feedback and suggestions.

However, I have to point out that all I was trying to do was import from my SD card to a folder in a portable hard drive, which is how I understood was the one way to transfer the photographs into Lightroom. So as far as I was aware I was not changing any presets - but open to being advised otherwise.

I have asked you to confirm, by looking at the setting in Lightroom's Import dialog box, that you are importing to the external drive. You need to make sure the location of your imports has not been accidentally changed. You have instead stated that you have always done this in the past and haven't changed anything, which is not the same thing as actually looking at the settings in the Import dialog box.

[kentdesign]

Just a thought, however, this is another option:

With LR closed, and Using the finder, drag copy your photos from your memory card into a folder on your external drive.

Then open LR and import the photos from the external drive.

Julianne Kost originally recommended not using LR to import from a memory card because IF there were a problem or if the power was lost during transfer, you might lose some of your images.

Since her original recommendation to me years and years ago...I have always copied my images from the memory card to a folder. Then I removed the card and launch LR and import. That way, if there were any glitches, my photos are still there on the memory card and I do not erase the card until I am sure the images are in their new location AND I have made a back up copy of that photo folder on a "back Up" separate drive. Not necessarily the fastest workflow, however it is definitely safer.

[kentdesign]

As for auto discarding your 1:1 previews after 30 days, that simply depends on how you want to edit. 1:1 previews are really useful when editing, so if you finish your editing in a day or a week, you can manually delete the 1:1 previews or change the preferences your way.